The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission said Friday its enforcement division filed 102 enforcement cases in fiscal 2012, the highest number of cases the CFTC has filed in a year.
The agency said in a statement that its Division of Enforcement also opened more than 350 new investigations during the fiscal year, its highest annual number of new investigations on record.
The CFTC said its enforcement division imposed more than $585 million in total sanctions, including $416 million in civil monetary penalties and around $169 million in restitution and disgorgement.
The agency said it assisted federal and state criminal and civil law enforcement authorities in over 200 investigations and prosecutions. Internationally, the enforcement division received responses to over 300 requests for assistance from more than 70 different regulators.
Among energy- and metals-related cases filed in fiscal 2012, the CFTC settled charges against global oil trader Optiver Holding BV, two if its subsidiaries and three officers for manipulating and attempting to manipulate crude oil and other energy futures contracts. The defendants paid $14 million in a court-approved settlement and received trading limitations.
It also charged former MF Global broker Joseph Welsh with attempting to manipulate palladium and platinum futures contracts and with aiding and abetting attempted manipulation by Christopher Pia, a former portfolio manager with Moore Capital Management. The case is pending in a New York federal court.
The division also filed numerous cases involving violations of customer fund protection, including a high-profile case against Peregrine Financial Group and its owner Russell Wasendorf Sr., for misappropriating customer funds, violating fund segregation laws and making false statements to the CFTC. The case is currently pending in a Chicago federal court.
Further, the division charged JPMorgan Chase Bank for unlawfully handling Lehman Brothers customer funds prior to Lehman's bankruptcy filing in the financial crisis of 2008. The charges were settled, and JPMorgan was ordered to pay $20 million in sanctions, the largest CFTC fine to date regarding segregated fund violation.
"As we look back on this year's results, the division can say with confidence that we have effectively responded to the significant wrongdoing uncovered under the [Commodity Exchange] Act and regulations," CFTC Enforcement Division Director David Meister said in a statement.
He added that the CFTC has begun to use its new authority under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act and "we will continue to do so as more new rules become effective."
